title: Resistance to sap-sucking insects in modern-day agriculture.
abstract: Plants and herbivores have co-evolved in their natural habitats for about 350 million years, but since the domestication of crops, plant resistance against insects has taken a different turn. With the onset of monoculture-driven modern agriculture, selective pressure on insects to overcome resistances has dramatically increased. Therefore plant breeders have resorted to high-tech tools to continuously create new insect-resistant crops. Efforts in the past 30 years have resulted in elucidation of mechanisms of many effective plant defenses against insect herbivores. Here, we critically appraise these efforts and - with a focus on sap-sucking insects - discuss how these findings have contributed to herbivore-resistant crops. Moreover, in this review we try to assess where future challenges and opportunities lay ahead. Of particular importance will be a mandatory reduction in systemic pesticide usage and thus a greater reliance on alternative methods, such as improved plant genetics for plant resistance to insect herbivores.
authors.affiliation: Keygene NV, Wageningen Netherlands ; Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute of Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Arjen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vandoorn
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Vos
keywords: breeding; crop pests; genetically modified crops; natural insecticides; phloem-feeding insects